Page 47 of Teach Me How To Fly

My body gave in, and I could only feel the cold floor beneath me as I collapsed on it.

I could neither hear nor see anything as darkness enveloped my entire being. Uncontrollable tremors wracked my body, accompanied by tears streaming down my cheeks as each memory of my childhood started hitting my mind one after another, slowly and painfully.

My uncle. I forgot him, but my body didn’t forget anything from what he did to me

And then, it all came rushing back. I remembered every little painful, haunting memory of what he did to me.

16

MAKSEN

Iwas caressing her little hand with gentle moves as I glanced at her, hoping that she would open her eyes and look at me.

Her face was a little swollen as she cried her soul out until we arrived here, but the moment I saw her body falling on the floor, I knew something even worse happened to her.

I raised her up in my arms and asked Lydia to lead me to one of the bedrooms, where I put Annalise on the bed and covered her tiny body with the blanket. She fainted, and her face became white as a little snowflake.

I couldn’t move from her side, and I couldn’t think about anything else other than her and what had happened in the last couple of hours.

Before leaving, she asked me to throw our phones in the river, which I gladly did. I didn’t need Lukyan to start digging deeper and searching for us because I knew that would’ve harmed her even more. And she didn’t need that because she was broken enough.

I continued to caress her hand, looking at her carefully as my eyebrows drew together.

I started asking myself if she had eaten that day, or if she drank at least a glass of water. But then I realized that no matter what she did, she was still going to be shattered into billions of fragments because of the news she received.

I wanted to take her pain away and feel it only by myself so I wouldn’t have to see her hurting. But it was impossible to do that, so I was content just to look at her and try to give her what she needed.

My attention was driven by the sound of the door being swung open.

When I turned my head so I could see the person who just entered the room, I exhaled deeply as I saw Lydia walking slowly towards me. She had her hands wrapped around her body. She seemed truly worried, so I stood up and gazed at her.

“She hasn’t woken up yet,” I whispered to her and she nodded.

“I-I need to tell you something,” she replied in a lower tone of voice and I furrowed my brows at her words.

Before opening the door and leaving the room, I took one last glimpse of Annalise. I didn’t want to leave her side.

Once we walked out of the room, Lydia stopped near the railing and put her hands on it, as if she was trying to find the right words to speak at that moment. I looked at her attentively and stepped closer to see her face.

“When I saw Annalise falling on the ground, I knew it was a mistake that I even opened that damn door for you,” she explained and her voice was shattered. “If Lukyan finds out that I broke his word, he’ll kill me.”

“What are you talking about?”

She sighed deeply and tilted her head to look at me. Her wrinkled skin was still beautiful, but her eyes showed the hard years that had passed over.

She tried to tell something but stopped before the words left her mouth. She gripped the railing between her fingers and started biting her lower lip, probably trying to find the courage to speak.

“He forbade both you and Annalise to come here to this house since you were children,” she explained, almost crying again.

I was confused now, but the memories started flowing in my mind and I realized that she was right.

I had a strange feeling that I haven’t been here for so long that I almost forgot that I even knew this place. Yet I didn’t have any memory to confirm that I had ever been here. The only thing that I found somehow familiar was the smell of mold and room perfume.

“Why would he? I don’t know if I should believe you, but I don’t remember being in this house. I don’t have any memories here.”

“Because you both were children, and children often forget things that traumatized them.”

Now, I was even more confused.

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